THE CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY Copyright by Linda Hope Lee One of the tools for developing your characters is the Character Biography, a form detailing vital statistics, background and other aspects of a character that the writer fills out prior to writing the story. While not everything in the biography will necessarily be incorporated into the story, the hope is that knowing such things as your character's favorite color or favorite food will help you to portray him or her better on the page. There are many of these forms around, from short and simple to long and complicated. I must confess that I do not often use biographies, especially the long and complicated ones. I'm primarily a "pantser," a term used to describe writers who do not plot the story before beginning to write, who "fly by the seat of their pants." I learn about the characters as I write about them. However, what follows is a Character Biography my workshop participants have found useful. I offer it with the hope that, should you wish to use this particular tool, you will find it useful, too. And, there's no rule saying you have to fill this out before you begin writing. You could wait until you're, say, a few chapters into the story, then stop and do biographies. See how many of the questions your writing so far has provided the answers to. Ask yourself whether or not knowing the answers to the remaining questions might be helpful in finishing the story, or in layering as you rewrite. Perhaps the questions can give you ideas for directions the story might take or for developing new conflicts. CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY 1. VITAL STATISTICS A. Name B. Age C. Birthdate D. Birthplace E. Physical description 2. BACKGROUND A. Who were her parents? What were their occupations? Outlook on life? B. What was the character's relationship to her parents? C. Who were the other significant people in her life? What effect did they have on her development? D. What kind of childhood did she have? Generally happy? Sad? Did anything significant happen that will affect her in later life? E. What was her education? 3. THE PRESENT A. What is she doing now? Is she following her profession? B. Where does she live? C. What are her hobbies and pastimes? D. Who are her friends? ####

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